Did President Barack Obama ask the Senate to kill an amendment that would allow same-sex couples to apply for legal status for their foreign-born partners as part of a rewrite of the nation’s immigration laws?

That was the word Tuesday just before the provision was rejected and the bill passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Republicans who support the bill had expressed concerns about the amendment. 

White House spokesman Jay Carney on Wednesday would not confirm or deny the reports.

"I'm not aware of that conversation. What I can tell you is the president supports the amendment," he said.

President Obama offered congratulations to the Senate Judiciary Committee for passing an immigration bill with a bipartisan vote.

Obama said the bill is "largely consistent with the principles of commonsense reform" he backs and "meets the challenge of fixing our broken immigration system."

He called the legislative process "open and inclusive," noting more than 100 amendments were considered and offered applause to the committee, singling out several members of the "Gang of Eight" that pushed the bill: Sens. Chuck Schumer, Dick Durbin, Lindsay Graham and Jeff Flake.

"None of the committee members got everything they wanted, and neither did I, but in the end, we all owe it to the American people to get the best possible result over the finish line," Obama said in a statement. "I encourage the full Senate to bring this bipartisan bill to the floor at the at the earliest possible opportunity and remain hopeful that the amendment process will lead to further improvements."

White House spokesman Jay Carney says the bills designed to rewrite the nation's immigration law still has a long way to go.

"We are monitoring this very closely...We remain optimistic that the Senate can and will produce bipartisan, comprehensive immigration reform legislation that would represent a huge advance in this country and would be in keeping with the principles the president laid out," Carney said. "But it is important to note, and I think this goes to your question, that we are still a long way from that -- achieving that goal, and a lot of work remains to be done."

The remarks comes as senators are introducing hundreds of amendments to bill.

"I don't have an assessment to make of any of the many amendments," Carney said.

Congress returns to work Monday after a nine-day break, but the more controversial items--immigration, guns, budget--are not likely to be subject to any big votes anytime soon.

Instead, the Senate will consider the internet sales tax bill. The measure is expected to pass easily, and then face trouble in the House of Representatives. The bill would allow taxes to be collected on many internet sales.

As for the more controversial measures, immigration should take the spotlight later this week,as the Senate Judiciary Committee begins writing the legislation. That's expected to take most of this month, with floor action due in June. Any votes on guns are unlikely for awhile, and the budget legislation will probably not come up until next month.

In this week's radio address, President Barack Obama spoke to Americans from Mexico City about the benefits of expanding economic ties to Latin America and rewriting the U.S.'s immigration laws.

"On of the best ways to grow our economy is to sell more goods and services Made in America to the rest of the world," Obama said. "That includes our neighbors to the south." 

A bipartisan group of U.S. senators has unveiled a proposal that would offer a path to citizenship for the 11 million illegal immigrants in the United States, many of whom come from Central America.

President Barack Obama said Thursday that he would not reject a rewrite of the nation’s immigration laws just because it did not allow tens of thousands of same-sex couples to apply for legal status for their foreign-born partners.

Obama, on a visit to Central America in part to tout his support of an immigration overhaul, backs an inclusion for same-sex couples, but said he wouldn't necessarily veto a bill in which it’s not included.

“I’m going to get everything I want in this bill,” he said. “Republicans aren’t going to get everything they want in this bill.”

But, Obama said, the legislation introduced in the Senate “has the opportunity to do something historic that we haven’t done in decades.”

White House spokesman Jay Carney told repotrters Monday that Congress should continue to debate -- and pass -- a rewrite to the nation's immigration laws.

"We agree with what some of the co-authors of the bill...which is that one of the positive effects and one of the reasons why we need comprehensive immigration reform is because it will enhance when implemented our national security. And it is another reason why we need to move forward with this very important bipartisan legislation. That is certainly our view. "

He said the White House will continue to lobby lawmakers on the issue.

"We believe that we need to move forward with comprehensive immigration reform for a whole host of reasons and the benefits that reform will provide to our country, to our economy, to our security," he said.

The battle for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination is too close (let alone too early) to call.

"There is no frontrunner now," said a Quinnipiac University national survey released Wednesday.

The leader is Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, with 19 percent. Trailing are Rep. Paul Ryan, the 2012 vice presidential nominee, at 17 percent, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, 15 percent, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, 14 percent and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, 10 percent.

But there is this potentially good news for Christie and Bush: By a 59-23 percent margin, Republicans say they prefer a governor with experience. Republicans also get higher marks than Democrats on handling the deficit,though Democrats fare better on health care, same-sex marriage and immigration.

To read more: http://www.quinnipiac.edu/institutes-centers/polling-institute/national/release-detail?ReleaseID=1876

Resurgent Republic, a center-right Republican group that includes a lot of big party names, found strong support for changing the nation's immigration laws in focus groups it conducted with party primary voters in Des Moines and Greenville, S.C.

“President Obama’s reelection victory, and Republicans’ shrinking support among non-white voters, has been a seminal moment for conservatives,” said Ed Gillespie, former Republican party chairman and now a Resurgent Republic Board Member.

Among the key fiindings, as described by the group in its own words:

"1.  These Republican base voters strongly support legal immigration. On this point, participants volunteer descriptors such as “freedom,” “opportunity,” “hard work,” and an ability “to make a better life for themselves.” Regardless of their individual positions on immigration reform, Republicans should open any discussion on this issue highlighting the benefits legal immigration brings to America.

2.   Immigration reform is not on the radar of the Republican base. They are following this issue from a distance, so Republicans seeking to pass broad based immigration policies need to make the case as to why this is necessary. They were aware that Republicans like former Governor Jeb Bush and Senator Marco Rubio are leading figures on this issue and in regards to potential plans, one Des Moines woman noted: “I’d like to see what Marco Rubio comes up with. I trust him.” (The groups occurred prior to Senator Rand Paul’s immigration announcement on March 19, 2013).

To read other findings:

Vice President Joe Biden, just back from the pope's inauguration in Italy, welcomed the Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny -- known as Taoiseach -- to his house at the Naval Observatory Wednesday for his traditional St Patrick’s Day breakfast.

Kenny told the guests that he had spoken with Sens. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. and Pat Leahy, D-Vt., and House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, about rewriting U.S. immigration laws. He said he hoped that lawmakers could introduce a bill by the end of the summer “which would be good for America, good for the many different nationalities that are here and certainly important in an Irish sense where we have 50,000 undocumented.”

Kenny said that the 50,000 illegal Irish immigrants in the U.S. “want to be legitimized and they want to contribute legitimately to the United States, and we hope that can come about.” He wished Biden luck “as you struggle to get a fix on the economy here with your colleagues here in the administration and on the Hill,” he said. “[It is] never an easy thing to do but I think you are focused in the right direction and let’s hope that works out in the interests of the world and the United States.”

More than 40 guests -- wearing green ties, clad in green and wearing sprigs of shamrock -- dined on scrambled eggs, pancakes and a bread basket of Irish soda bread and scones and were entertained by The Bog Bang, an Irish music and dance group. Guests included Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley and Vicki Kennedy, the widow of the late Massachusetts senator Ted Kennedy.

The breakfast was scheduled to take Tuesday, March 19th but was postponed until Wednesday because of Biden's vist to Rome.

In his speech, Biden said that he was five-eighths Irish and that his aunt had said that the remaining part was English through his father. He will visit Ireland later this year.